Post by fogcitygal on Apr 14, 2005 2:28:10 GMT -5
From the Providence Journal, an interview with Dan:
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Music scene by Rick Massimo:
Alison Krauss in forefront of the traditional-country comeback
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Rhode Islanders got their first earful of Alison Krauss when she was a teenage whiz-kid fiddler at the old Cajun & Bluegrass Festivals in the late '80s. She's now 33, a mother and a full-blown pop star, and makes appearances in Grammy award-show fashion spreads. But Dan Tyminski, who plays guitar and sings in Krauss' band, Union Station, says she hasn't changed.
"There has only been one and will only be one," he says. "Absolutely the most down-to-earth person you can imagine."
The latest Alison Krauss and Union Station album, Lonely Runs Both Ways, came out last November, and it's full of Krauss' vocal numbers, with her cool-breeze voice singing songs of heartbreak and devotion in a traditional country manner, as well as lickety-split old-time tunes and bluegrass-inspired breakdowns.
"You know, I haven't seen too many changes since we've been in the band," says Tyminski, who's been in Union Station for nearly 12 years.
"We're doing better now, and we're probably bigger, stronger and faster than when I joined the band -- I'd like to take credit for that," he jokes, "but as far as what we do and how we are with each other, there really haven't been many changes. It's been the five of us now for years."
The last personnel change, Tyminski says, was the bringing aboard of dobro player Jerry Douglas seven years ago. For Tyminski, playing with Douglas is special.
"I grew up a big fan. . . . He was on the record that really made me want to play music -- J.D. Crowe and the New South, -- in 1976. That record changed my life, and I've been a huge fan of Jerry's my whole life. And to get to be his bandmate, friend, comrade, it's great. It turned out that I was not shattered; he ended up being a nice guy."
Lonely Runs Both Ways is Union Station's first studio record in three years. "For us," Tyminski says, "we have never been on a schedule or regimen of putting out a record a year. As we get the songs and see the need to put out another record, we do it. And we've just started to tour this record. . . . [But] we're looking for songs and trying to envision what the next one will be."
THE BAND'S visibility has hardly ever been higher, however, thanks in part to the popularity of the soundtracks to O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Cold Mountain; the former featured Krauss on several songs and Tyminski as the lead singer on the hit "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow." And the band was part of the Great High Mountain Tour, a collection of Americana practitioners old and new, which came to the Ryan Center last summer.
Tyminski made a solo record, Carry Me Across the Mountain, in 2000, and takes lead vocal duties three times on Lonely Runs Both Ways. Another solo record is in the offing, he says, but there's been no time.
"We have been really busy just with Alison and Union Station. Between traveling, recording, family life." Also, Tyminski recently moved to the Nashville area.
"I'm looking at my watch as we speak, and it's time to make another [solo] record. There just has been no off time to make that happen."
The Great High Mountain Tour was a highlight of Tyminski's touring life, he says. With progenitors of the genre such as the White Family and Ralph Stanley in the show, "it's hard to express the level of fun that that was. It's rare to be in the situation where you travel with so many friends, with so many people we are used to seeing just in passing, long enough to say, 'Hello, great to see you, bye-bye.'
". . . It was one of the highlights of my touring career. We loved the opportunity to play with those bands."
Thanks in large part to those movies and the tour they inspired, traditional, acoustic-based country has been making a comeback for the past few years.
"It's hard to get a read from the end that I sit on," Tyminski says, "[but] I've noticed more people coming out to our shows, and just a little more buzz about acoustic music, just kind of in general. . . . It's really fun to see that type of music grow."
==================================
Last week it was an interview with Barry, this week with Dan. On stage, Alison has been sharing lead vocals with Dan and Ron. The band seems determined to share the honors and the duties of the group.
------------------------------------------
Music scene by Rick Massimo:
Alison Krauss in forefront of the traditional-country comeback
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Rhode Islanders got their first earful of Alison Krauss when she was a teenage whiz-kid fiddler at the old Cajun & Bluegrass Festivals in the late '80s. She's now 33, a mother and a full-blown pop star, and makes appearances in Grammy award-show fashion spreads. But Dan Tyminski, who plays guitar and sings in Krauss' band, Union Station, says she hasn't changed.
"There has only been one and will only be one," he says. "Absolutely the most down-to-earth person you can imagine."
The latest Alison Krauss and Union Station album, Lonely Runs Both Ways, came out last November, and it's full of Krauss' vocal numbers, with her cool-breeze voice singing songs of heartbreak and devotion in a traditional country manner, as well as lickety-split old-time tunes and bluegrass-inspired breakdowns.
"You know, I haven't seen too many changes since we've been in the band," says Tyminski, who's been in Union Station for nearly 12 years.
"We're doing better now, and we're probably bigger, stronger and faster than when I joined the band -- I'd like to take credit for that," he jokes, "but as far as what we do and how we are with each other, there really haven't been many changes. It's been the five of us now for years."
The last personnel change, Tyminski says, was the bringing aboard of dobro player Jerry Douglas seven years ago. For Tyminski, playing with Douglas is special.
"I grew up a big fan. . . . He was on the record that really made me want to play music -- J.D. Crowe and the New South, -- in 1976. That record changed my life, and I've been a huge fan of Jerry's my whole life. And to get to be his bandmate, friend, comrade, it's great. It turned out that I was not shattered; he ended up being a nice guy."
Lonely Runs Both Ways is Union Station's first studio record in three years. "For us," Tyminski says, "we have never been on a schedule or regimen of putting out a record a year. As we get the songs and see the need to put out another record, we do it. And we've just started to tour this record. . . . [But] we're looking for songs and trying to envision what the next one will be."
THE BAND'S visibility has hardly ever been higher, however, thanks in part to the popularity of the soundtracks to O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Cold Mountain; the former featured Krauss on several songs and Tyminski as the lead singer on the hit "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow." And the band was part of the Great High Mountain Tour, a collection of Americana practitioners old and new, which came to the Ryan Center last summer.
Tyminski made a solo record, Carry Me Across the Mountain, in 2000, and takes lead vocal duties three times on Lonely Runs Both Ways. Another solo record is in the offing, he says, but there's been no time.
"We have been really busy just with Alison and Union Station. Between traveling, recording, family life." Also, Tyminski recently moved to the Nashville area.
"I'm looking at my watch as we speak, and it's time to make another [solo] record. There just has been no off time to make that happen."
The Great High Mountain Tour was a highlight of Tyminski's touring life, he says. With progenitors of the genre such as the White Family and Ralph Stanley in the show, "it's hard to express the level of fun that that was. It's rare to be in the situation where you travel with so many friends, with so many people we are used to seeing just in passing, long enough to say, 'Hello, great to see you, bye-bye.'
". . . It was one of the highlights of my touring career. We loved the opportunity to play with those bands."
Thanks in large part to those movies and the tour they inspired, traditional, acoustic-based country has been making a comeback for the past few years.
"It's hard to get a read from the end that I sit on," Tyminski says, "[but] I've noticed more people coming out to our shows, and just a little more buzz about acoustic music, just kind of in general. . . . It's really fun to see that type of music grow."
==================================
Last week it was an interview with Barry, this week with Dan. On stage, Alison has been sharing lead vocals with Dan and Ron. The band seems determined to share the honors and the duties of the group.
